Many thanks go out to our volunteers who have done so much to help the organization grow over the past 3 years. Together, we have struggled through one of the hardest periods for a new organization and I am happy to announce the beginning of a new project, Watching Cambodia. This summer, we will begin accepting applications for this project and travel will occur in January 2009. Our students will embark on a personal journey that will seek to connect the dots between disciplines and cultures. Working at a grassroots level using a unique approach that seeks to determine not only the integrity of various approached to development, but will also challenge students to critically analyze the way in which they offer and perceive “helping”. Students will be encourages to challenge their own views of themselves and of those within the culture of the project area. How are they linked? How are they responsible? What can be done to create a better society?

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This weekend at Yale University, over 2,000 people came together for a series of lectures and panels on global health. The conference, organized by Unite for Sight was addressed by former uS Assistant Surgeon General Dr. Susan Blumenthal, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, co-founder of Partners in health, as well as both Dr. Jeffrey and Dr. Sonia Sachs who outlined their work on the Millennium Village Project. “The Millennium Project was commissioned by the United Nations Secretary-General in 2002 to develop a concrete action plan for the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to reverse the grinding poverty, hunger and disease affecting billions of people.” - http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/

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This past weekend, Perspectives International opened a show at the Brown University Hillel Gallery in Providence, Rhode Island. The student organizers came from Brown Engineers Without Borders, a group that PI has been helping to organize for a year and a half. This year, they are working on the structural design for Amazon Promise’s clinic, Promesa de Belen. The show will be up through October 5th.

“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.” - Anita Roddick, social activist and founder of The Body Shop

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This past Sunday, members of the board from Amazon Promise, a US-based NGO we have collaborated with on the clinic project, visited the PI Gallery in Manhattan. PI has assisted AP in building support for Promesa de Belen, a clinic that will serve members in the community of Belen, a part of our project area in northern Peru. Amazon Promise runs jungle expeditions deep into the Amazon. On board their travel boats, participants carry medical supplies so they can set up day clinics at the jungle villages they visit. Led by AP president Patty Webster who has been serving in the area for over 16 years, AP empowers traditional healing practitioners who practice ancient modalities and continue the teachings of their indigenous ancestors. By combining the knowledge of these traditional practitioners with modern medical knowledge, AP delivers a unique and culturally relevent healing art to a region in much need. PI is proud to support such a noble endeavor. Paintings on display at the PI gallery were done by AP Peru vice president, Sr. Javier Villanes Arias.

After gaining support from Baldwin & D’Andrea Productions, Stephen Baldwin mentioned his support of Perspectives International. Here is an exerpt: Generosity is a family affair with the Baldwins. In addition to his mother’s charity, Stephen, along with producing partner Alex D’Andrea, is involved with a variety of other causes, including Perspectives International, which advocates for culture, art, education and health care. Alec and Billy serve on the board of their mother’s organization, and Billy also supports Project A.L.S., an organization that funds research into Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Daniel participates in events such as the World Poker Tour in order to raise money to fight breast cancer. You can read the rest at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18538957/

PI volunteers are busily working on the opening of a short-term gallery on the lower east side of Manhattan. Opening its doors this May, the gallery will be open for small groups every Friday evening through the end of July. The Friday night experience will suit those who are interested in engaging with the artwork and the project, as PI is working to broaden its network and base of support, as well as fine-tune its business goals. Complete with food and drink, the Friday night viewings are by invitation and reservations must be made in advance. If you are interested and feel you have something to offer the project in the way of consultation or patronage, please email ann@perspectivesinternational.org for more details.

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Traveling back to my hometown of Charlevoix, Michigan is always a great experience not only because I am able to see my family, but also because I have been spending my last trips reconnecting with the place I went to high school (there is actually a new high school now, but many of the same teachers as when I was in school). By introducing the Peru Project to Charlevoix High School (CHS), I hope to maintain ties to my childhood community and bring back some of what I have experienced and learned since I moved away.

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